I purchased 10 large, pea-green bins at Target for the purpose of organizing our unruly garage and in the process came across some delightful treasures. For instance, I now have an eighteen gallon rubbermaid container in my garage filled with my journals from the last decade.
Generally there are two for each year, an 8 1/2 by 11 black, hard-backed sketch book with blank pages and whatever daily planner was in vogue for me at the time - for the last two years a red Moleskin calendar journal with a page for each day.
With each impending new calendar year I get excited to buy a new journal and begin filling it with dates and plans, hopes and goals. There is a process of transferring all of the old data into the new book, using the sharpest pen and neatest handwriting I can muster. One of my favorite parts is looking the in the first page of each one, where I write my goals or resolutions for the year. As the year passes, I jot down things I've learned or things I'd like to remember. At the end of each year, I can see what I've accomplished and create a theme or themes from that year.
In 2008, I learned a lot about friendships - particularly about editing relationships.
In 2009, my goals were focused around me and MJC - spending better time together instead of spreading myself thin, getting certified to be a fitness instructor, feeling more self-assured, buying a house and getting pregnant. I had two big lessons for this year:
1) Every day is filled with peaks and valleys- they simply can't be neatly categorized into good and bad days. This idea may seem simple to "not-me," but it was a gigantic undertaking for me to begin to believe it. The peak and valley concept gave me the freedom to dismiss failures and disappointments as moments in a day instead of feeling like I'd lost a day to ruin. I am a happier, lighter person for embracing this concept.
MJC has a habit of asking me the thing that made me laugh the hardest at the end of each day, which I love. It makes me take inventory of all the wonderful and silly parts of even my most challenging days.
I was keeping up with the Kardashians one day and learned that in their family, their father used to ask each person at the dinner table what the peak and valley of each day was. Although I am slightly ashamed of the source, I think it is a beautiful concept I hope to share with Sloane.
2) MJC is shamelessly optimistic, but he's usually right to be. We're lucky (although I think luck implies our successes our purely chance, which is not the case). In 2008 I made a whole spreadsheet of plans - pay off debt, save money, buy a house, get pregnant...We accomplished the entire list of aggressive goals I had set with time to spare, and all of the sudden I realized that I don't have to worry so much anymore. We usually get what we want.
While I could not wait to get rid of 2008, 2009 was a year that I loved. It seems greedy to wish 2010 is just as perfect, but with Sloane on her way I'm expectant.
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2 comments:
You certainly did not get this trait from me.
If you're embarassed to tell Sloane that your peak and valley tradition came from the Kardashians, tell her that it came from the Obamas. Apparently, they have a family tradition of disussing "the rose" and "the thorn" of their day each night at dinner. This is something we have done with Riley for a few years,so I was extra excited when I read an interview with Michelle during the campaign and she mentioned our mutual tradition!
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